The invention relates to devices for displaying information defined by contour lines in three-dimensional space. More particularly, it relates to such devices wherein one coordinate axis is defined by a plurality of parallel transparent sheets.
In the mathematical arts, in physics, in engineering, and in most other fields dealing with quantizable information, one of the main problems in dealing with such information is the manner of presentation for examination or study. Most such information is inherently three-dimensional and the visualization of complex surfaces in three dimensions is difficult for the human mind. In particular, the interrelationship of such surfaces, such as the planes of intersection between two three-dimensional bodies, may be impossible to visualize without graphical representation, and are poorly represented in the conventional two-dimensional projections to which a graph paper, blackboards, etc., constrain such representations.
Particular needs for three-dimensional displays exist in the teaching of three-dimensional geometry and like subjects, in topography, and in the manipulation of data involving the relative locations of a plurality of moving and stationary objects in a three-dimensional environment, such as in air traffic control and in naval submarine operations.
It is therefore a primary object of the invention to provide a device for generating three-dimensional displays which provide a viewer with a clear representation of the information to be displayed.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such three-dimensional displays in which the two-dimensional contours of the object or objects to be represented are drawn on transparent planar media and the two-dimensional sections subsequently assembled into a three-dimensional structure in which the spacing of the planar media corresponds to the sectioning plane of the two-dimensional contour it bears.
It is another object of the invention to teach the use in three-dimensional display devices of transparent sheets marked with a grid representing the coordinate system in which the information is to be presented.
It is another object of the invention to teach the construction of permanent three-dimensional display devices utilizing transparent parallel sheets suitably spaced, wherein the coordinate grid system is established by means of electrical conductors with light-emitting means provided at the intersections of the coordinate grid, so that energizing any arbitrary pair of conductors will result in the emission of light at their intersection.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a three-dimensional display in which the transparent sheets bearing the displayed information are retained in a frame forming a rectangular parallelepiped.